15,621 units in 4 months: MSMEs reviving Kanpur’s economy
As per data provided by the District Industries Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development Centre, Kanpur has on date 72,533 MSME units, 15,621 of which were opened in the last four months.
: Kanpur’s economic landscape is seeing a rapid change through the sharp growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which, stakeholders believe, is due to the city’s potential to stay afloat against all odds.
As per data provided by the District Industries Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development Centre, Kanpur has on date 72,533 MSME units, 15,621 of which were opened in the last four months.
Among them, 5,627 are in service, 5,055 in production and 4,939 in trading sectors. Among the producing units, the maximum of 354 units are related to food, 350 units for leather goods, 227 units for readymade garments and another 240 units for hardware items. In the services sector, 158 beauty salons, 60 food catering units and 59 cyber cafes were opened recently.
The data suggests that the number of MSME units has more than doubled since 2015-16 when the city had just 32,703 registered units. Earlier facilitated by the state government, the system has since been centralised.
A further analysis of the data revealed that a maximum of 69,032 units were in the micro segment, 3,179 in small and 324 units in medium.
Large-scale registrations, officials and industrialists said, were due to the policies of the state government such as the chief minister’s MSME insurance scheme, inclusion of leather and readymade garments in One District-One Product and easy availability of loans and subsidies under the self-employment scheme.
Sudhir Kumar, a deputy commissioner at the District Industries Promotion Centre, said MSMEs were rapidly growing, and the industrial growth in the state would further pick up after business units in the defence corridor open. “In just four months, the registration and operationalisation of 15,621 new units is a big deal. People are expanding their business,” he noted.
RK Jalan, vice-president of the Council for Leather Exports, said MSMEs were the backbone of industries. “Of all the goods exported from Kanpur, 98 per cent are from MSMEs. It is heartening to see that both the state and central governments are putting much focus on the sector,” he said.
Sunil Vaishya, a former president of the Indian Industries Association (IIA), said he saw the resilience of Kanpur and its people as the reason for the rise of MSMEs, which played a vital role in sustaining the city. “Uttar Pradesh is witnessing the highest growth in Kanpur despite receiving no substantial investments,” he said, adding local entrepreneurs were expanding their business and new ventures were coming up. The MSME, he said, was the biggest job creator in Kanpur.